Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-01-06
THE WORLDS CENTER.
An Intere.s ting Tale Told by the Brahnain.
of the City OF Delhi.

Z An Interesting Tale Told BY the Brahmins
: of tae City OF Delhi.
! About seven hundred miles northeast
! Of Bombay, and about the same dis
! lance northwest of Calcutta, stands the
ancient and very important city of
/ Delhi, the former metropolis OF the
! Great Aosul. It's walls, gates, palaces.
| tombs and other great works. are won
derful for size and for beauty of archi
| lecture, and would require a large book
| thoroughly 10 describe them. while the
| history OF the great city, which once
| contained two millions of inhabitants,
| would almost form a library. Not many
| miles from Delhi stands an enormous
| tall tower, but by whom that tower
was built, and for what purpose. no one
can tell The Brahmins say, however.
! that it marks the center OF the world:
and the story they tell about it is this.
Once upon q time q certain King Of
Delhi, being anxious to reign long and
to leave his throne to his family. and
being disturbed by doubts about it.
called q council OF pious Brahmins. who
Informed him that just under where
they were in consultation, and Just
where the great tower. called hootub.
now stands, was the head Of the great
serpent which supported the world.
Now" they said. IF the King viii
drive down 2 great iron into the earth.
at that spot. in such a way rs 10 trans
fix the head Of the Great serpent. he
NAV lie sure the.t he would reign long.
r.. MS children after him The King
l..<,.e tha great iron and the tower, and
drove down into the earth and trans
fixed the SCRIP cuts head-or n least the
Brahmins told him that h. had:
hut. doubling the word OF these
holy men. and wishing 20 see
for himself that such was the
case. he had the ron pillar pulled Up
again. L.. and behold. il was covered
with blood, showing that the holy men
had been right: but. unfortunately.
when he wanted 10 drive it down again
the animal very sensibiv got OUT Of the
way, and very shortly afterwards the
King was beSet by enemies and lost not
only his throne but his head. Tbs sig
nal confirmation Of the Brahmins' story
causes the natives 70 believe that the
head Of the great serpent Is still there.
supporting the world. although. Is they
say, il may not be eractig under the
tower since the attempt Of the King 10
tran>Ex il = second time
Not far from this wonderful tower is
wonderful we'll It is about thirty
feet square and one hundred and
twenty deep. and generally contains
about forty feet OF water. In addition
to its Use for drink;a. purposes. the M
tiTes max another 49, 4 this huge
we'll Whenever tA-r- - visitors attract
Ell by the fame Of the tower which
is the center Of the world. To Jump
from tie top into the darkness Of the
pool. eighty feet below. would be ike
leaP:n. from . s;x-story house. and
would appear to re certain death. Yet /,
the HiGdoos % the village close ~ will
make the jump for very few pence
\ dozen men and boys. with nothing
on but the very smallest waist-cIoch,
viii stand upon the curDstone, ready TO
jump.
An old gray-headed fellow viii bal
ance himself. and then leap. For the
first fifty feet or so he extends his arms
and legs widely, then he brings his feet
close together, puts his hands close to
his side, and strikes the water with
crash which echoes up the stony sides
as his head disappears in the inky-look-
ing pool. You think he is gone. But
no-in instant his gray head ap-
pears, ne swims 10 the wall. climbs up
the side to : square hole which leads
to 4 reservoir. and IS at the top again
in q moment, 70 claim his half rupee.
Next. Perhaps, jumps his grandson,
Z naked imp Of nine or ten. You shud-
der le.ausa the little fellow appears 10
have jumped too far. AMI U be in dam
ger of striking the s-one-work But
no. He misses the rocky side b. less
than = yard, arranges his feet and
hands just as lis graads;re did. and
falls Ike 2 stone in the water. You
wait 4 long time-0ne minute. two
the little round. bare
pate does not appear. VIII they make
no effort TO save him? 1 the boy
drowned? Not a bit Of it, In another
moment. the grinning imp, dripping
with water, Is by your side Il turns
put there IS in the well another COM
nunication with the reservoir, under
he water. and to this the boy has
lived. ami thus come out; the silence
and pretended alarm of those at the
top being only another trick 10 excite
and extract more money.
Then. a fast Is possible. the whole lot
will begin 70 jump. pell-meli. on top Of
each other almost, through the open
ngs.-up again, and down again-as
ong as there Is 4 chance OF extracting
my coin from the strangers
The village people do not seem 10
hink the water a all spoiled for drink
nc purposes by being thus turned into
, bathing-pool. Colder Days.
Valleys OF the Atlantic.